B`desh`s ex-interim head, army chief summoned

Dhaka: A parliamentary standing committee
probing the 2007 campus violence in Bangladesh on Tueday summoned
head of the then military-backed interim government and former
army chief to explain their roles during the events.

On behalf of the parliamentary body, the parliament
secretariat asked the then chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed and
former army chief Moeen U Ahmed to appear before it.

"The parliament secretariat already sent letters to
the (former chief adviser of the caretaker government)
Fakhruddin Ahmed and (former army chief) general Moeen U Ahmed
through the cabinet division and the armed forces division
respectively," chairman of the parliamentary standing
committee on education ministry Rashed Khan Menon told
newsmen.

Menon, who also heads the ruling Awami League`s left
leaning ally Workers Party, said the two kingpins of the past
military-backed interim regime were summoned through the
government authorities as the parliament secretariat were
unaware of their whereabouts.

The development came as the parliamentary body last
month said they decided to "invite" the two as a sub-committee
of the standing committee was investigating the matter.

The sub-committee was formed in August last year to
probe the military action against students and teachers as
violence sparked off in Dhaka University campus after a
dispute on a trifling matter during a student football match
at the varsity stadium.

It eventually spread across the capital and major
campuses outside Dhaka in the subsequent three days, prompting
authorities to enforce an indefinite curfew in the capital.

A total of eight teachers of Dhaka University and
northwestern Rajshahi University were arrested for their role
in sparking the unrest.

The violence left at least one dead and over 100
injured.

The then education adviser Ayub Quadri in his
statement accused an intelligence agency of instigating the
incidents.

The then chief of army general staff Sina Ibne Jamali
and former official of the directorate general of forces
intelligence (DGFI) gave their statements before the four-
member committee yesterday as they were summoned earlier.

Menon said the two army officers told the committee
that the DGFI had no role on their own in handling the
situation as they acted on orders of the of the then chief
adviser and the army chief at that time.